Dr Jared P. Kirtland Amateur of Horticulture

Abstract

The recent uncovering of several letters and more than 180 books and garden catalogues belonging to Dr Jared Potter Kirtland (1793–1877) opens a window into the early agricultural development in the Connecticut Western Reserve in northeastern Ohio, during the period 1825–1840. Famous for identifying the Kirtland warbler, for writing ‘Fish of Ohio’ and ‘Birds of Ohio’, for the first geological survey, and for minute observations of fresh water mollusk, the Niades, in his free time, Kirtland turned his very able hands to gardening and plant propagation. He built an extensive nursery from his and from his family's gardens. He swapped material with his neighbours, patients, social, business and political acquaintances. Further, he bought expensively from East Coast nurseries. Kirtland's skill as a teacher, his enthusiasm for sharing his plants and his remarkable ability to be comfortable with all kinds and sorts of men suggest that he had access to almost any garden where he desired entry. Through his network of contacts, northeastern Ohio gardeners acquired plants shortly after their American nursery introduction to the East, and with them the knowledge of how to utilize them to the best advantage in the local Ohio climate and soils.